Logic vs Prophecy
by Hedwig and the Giant Squid
Summary: What would happen if Hermione had a closer look at the prophecy? Read to find out! Story takes place after Dumbledore tells Harry about the prophecy. Apart from that, it's non-canon.


Disclaimer: The whole Harry Potter World belongs to J.K. Rowling. I am writing just for fun and are not making any money out of it.

 **Logic vs. Prophecy**

 _ **by Hedwig and the Giant Squid**_

What would happen if Hermione had a closer look at the prophecy? Read to find out!

" _The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..._ „

An ere silence followed those words, which were recited gravely by the weary looking teenager with the messy black hair and the round spectacles. For a moment, Harry closed his green eyes tiredly, his complexion so pale that the lightning bolt scar on his forehead stood out more than ever.

Harry's audience, his best friends Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley, were perched at the edge of a couch in the Room of Requirement, where they could be sure not to be overheard.

Taking in every word of the prophecy, and repeating them over and over in their heads, they could not quite believe that Harry should have such bad luck.

Ron was the first to recover. As always, when he was not sure how to react to an emotional situation, he tried to downplay it a bit – must be something he picked up from his cheerful twin brothers.

"It could be worse, you know, at least it says that you'll _vanquish_ snake face".

"No" Hermione came out of her stupor, "it says whoever is meant by the prophecy will _have the power_ to do so. Having the power is not the same as actually accomplishing the task".

"Semantics." Ron brushed her of. When he got the rest of her meaning, he asked "What do you mean by 'whoever is meant by the prophecy? I think it's clear that it speaks of Harry".

At Herminone's questioning glance he murmured sheepishly "You see, his scar and everything...".

Harry watched the discussion between the two quietly. He was relieved, actually. He had pondered for some weeks now if he should tell his friends of the prophecy. He didn't want to endanger them, and Headmaster Dumbledore had made quite clear that in the end, Harry would be alone in his task to vanquish Voldemort.

Hermione laid a hand on Harry's knee in a comforting gesture and all three of them stared into the flames which were blazing in the fireplace for a few minutes.

Suddenly, Hermione straightened her back, a spark in her eyes nearly as bright as the fire. The boys exchanged a knowing glance – Hermione just had an idea.

"What is it?" enquired Harry.

"Just a theory." replied Hermione, and added absently "...I'll have to check something in the library." With that, the bushy haired witch was gone from the room.

Ron and Harry nodded in resignation – this had to be expected. When their friend was up to prove a theory as she called it, she would vanish in a pile of books for some days and emerge only after she had found valid proof.

„If she had stayed in the muggle world, Hermione could have become a brilliant mathematician for sure." Harry had observed once. Sometimes, they would search for a proof of a mathematical problem for years.

Ron had quietly agreed, although he didn't know exactly was Mathematics meant. „Something like Arithmancy" Harry had explained.

With the beginning of Christmas holidays, Hermione had indeed very much time to check her theory. Although they were curious, the boys knew better than to pester her regarding the progress. She would tell them on her own terms.

The day before the Yule Party, Hermione invited Ron and Harry to the Room of Requirement once again. In her arms, she carried a big folder with differently coloured post its sticking out (everything to keep her organized, for sure).

"So, what did you find, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"What do you know about prophecies?" replied Hermione.

"They are made by seers, and sometimes made up by fraud seers, such as Trelawny." Ron supplied.

"Well, that's not quite correct." answered Hermione, and began to fall into lecture mode.

"Prophecies are not _made_ by seers, they are just _relayed_ by them."

"Uh...?" was Ron's reply, combined with a confused and slightly funny expression.

Checking with her notes, Hermione elaborated "In 'How The Inner Eye Came To See' from Beatrice Wracktuckle, it is mentioned, that all prophecies are coming from the Realm Without Time _,_ which is a place in which time does not go by as it does here."

"In the Realm Without Time, there is no past or future, so all things which have happened or will happen here are known. This is also reported by six other sources, namely..."

Before the girl could continue to recite the other books, Harry held up a hand "We believe you. You have done quite an amount of research, obviously. So, what about this Realm, does it tell how to vanquish Voldemort?"

"That is not how it works." Hermione replied.

"According to those books, only once was a connection made between the Realm Without Time and our world. It happened in the year 1550, when a scholar named Michel de Nostredame, in Latin 'Nostradamus', accidentally activated a veil which led to this Realm."

"That is how all prophecies came to our world. They are believed to be some kind of energy, which manifest themselves in the minds of persons, who's brain waves are in match with their energy signature."

Noting once again Ron's slightly confused expression, Hermione decided to skip the theory and continued with her story.

"Nostradamus was a very studious person, and he studied the veil for some time. However, Nostradamus was affected by the prophecies and he began to have visions, which he wrote down in the following years. Some of these visions were so awful and confusing though, that he sought to deactivate the veil in order to prevent more prophecies to enter our world."

"In the year 1560, Nostradamus finally found a way to destroy the veil and to close the connection between the Realm Without Time and our world for good."

"So basically, this means there is a limited amount of prophecies, and only real seers can relay them because they are in tune with the energy the prophecies are made of." summarized Harry.

"Yes," answered Hermione "but more important is the time range when all of this happened and also Nostradamus' influence on the prophecies." she continued.

"Nostradamus had visions between the year 1550 when he accidentally activated the veil and 1560, when he found a way to destroy it. Also, he acted as the first medium which the prophecies had to pass when they came to our world. So all the wording in the prophecies comes from Nostradamus. When relayed by another seer, of course the prophecies are translated into their mother tongue."

Ron could easily see this. After all, who would use the term 'vanquish' in our time?

"So whenever a date is mentioned in the prophecies, it refers to the Calender which was valid in Nostradamus' time" Hermione continued.

At Ron's questioning glance, she explained "Before the year 1564, the new year began with the 1st April here in Europe. Only then King Carl IX of France decided that the new year shall begin at the 1st January."

"Really?" questioned Ron

"Yes I've heard of it." Harry commented. "It's rumoured that this is the origin of April Fools' Day – people wishing each other Happy New Year although it had been changed to 1st January instead of 1st April".

"That's correct, but think about the time line and what it means to the prophecy which Headmaster Dumbledore has told Harry." reminded Hermione.

"Wait, it talks about the end of the seventh month, right?" asked Ron.

"Yes, it's even mentioned there twice." Hermione replied excitedly.

"So if in Nostradamus' time the year began at 1st April, the end of the seventh month would be...

"31st October!" exclaimed Harry and Ron together.

"Samhain" nodded Hermionie.

"But Harry is born in July, so you think the prophecy is not about Harry at all?" asked Ron.

"Exactly. Also, it could be something which will happen 1000 years in the future, or it already has happened, I will have to check more History books about that..."

Before Hermione could launch back into the library again, Harry asked "But how come Professor Dumbledore doesn't know about the time difference?"

"Normally, prophecies are quite vague concerning the time range of the event. Often, the prophesied event is referred to astronomical events such as solar eclipses or they just refer to star signs."

"Blimey" exhaled Ron.

A huge weight seemed to lift off Harry's shoulders "So what does that mean to 'our' prophecy? We still have a maniac terrorizing Britain, and even _he_ believes that the prophecy refers to me." He asked.

"Yes, but that's only because Voldemort is a crazy egomaniac who apparently fell for the same trap as Headmaster Dumbledore, regarding the interpretation of the prophecy." "I think we should present our findings to Headmaster Dumbledore, he will know how to proceed." remarked Hermione.

Not much later the trio sat in the headmaster's office. After offering tea and – of course – lemon drops which Hermionie politely declined, the headmaster listened to the interesting theory, proudly presented by Hermione.

In the end, Dumbledore stroked his beard deep in thought. "I thank you for bringing this to my attention, 50 points to Gryffindor".

In the following weeks, the headmaster did a discrete background check of Herminone's theory and could find no fault in it.

And so the unthinkable happened. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore changed his mind: Harry Potter was not the target of this prophecy.

This changed things quite a lot. Now _all_ authorities would have to be involved in the chase after the man who terrorized not only magical Britain, but also the muggle world.

It was an open secret that the Prime Minister and also the Royal Family of muggle Britain knew about magic, and as Voldemort was attacking muggle targets ruthlessly, they certainly would be happy to retaliate.

In his office, Albus Dumbledore sat back scheming. There was a war to plan...


End file.
